Why a tech error at Deadmau5 and Lights shows ended in mistaken identity drama
The 2 Canadian electronic artists were accused of using another singer’s vocals during live performances
Deadmau5 and Lights have found themselves in a bit of a predicament: the two Canadian artists have been touring together, off-and-on for years, but they were recently accused of using the vocals of another singer during their live set.
Faroese singer-songwriter Greta Svabo Bech sang the vocals on Deadmau5's 2011 crossover hit "Raise Your Weapon." The song was nominated for best dance recording at the 2012 Grammys and charted on the Billboard Hot 100. In a now deleted Tik Tok, she claimed that people had been tagging her in the comments on videos of the live sets from Deadmau5's tour, where it seems Lights is lip syncing, or "miming" as Svabo Bech called it, the lyrics while her original vocal track plays.
Svabo Bech took to the social media platform to air her grievances and to be a "voice in my own conversation."
"Seeing these videos made me realize, as a singer, my voice and my identity are intertwined. It's one thing not giving credit, but when someone else is actively taking credit for your voice, it's like they're taking a part of your body and saying it's theirs," she said.
Lights responded three days later, with a now deleted Tik Tok to clear up any misunderstandings. She also said she spoke to Sveba Bech directly and they are "good." According to her, it was an error on the part of the production team during some of the more recent shows.
Deadmau5 and Lights have two singles together, "Drama Free" and "When the Summer Dies." When Lights joins him on tour, she said she comes out to sing "Raise Your Weapon" as well: "It's just been an add-on to the songs that I do have with him on the shows that I do come out to, because it's a great singable moment."
In her response, Lights claims that although the audience usually hears her live vocals, in the past few shows she realized that no one could hear her voice in the speakers.
"You can actually just hear the original track playing over my performance. I actually didn't know that no one could hear my voice in the speakers until I got on stage," she said. "I can hear my voice in my in-ear monitors, and I'm singing the first verse, giving them my all. First break comes down, I'm like, 'How's everybody doing tonight?' and it's crickets. I'm like, 'This thing on?'"
Lights chalked it all up to the production team being busy juggling many things and by consequence, overlooking it. She also insisted that "there were no egregious conspiracies to erase identity or malicious intent."
"Long story short, it sucked for me to be singing my ass off and no one could hear me," she said. "And it sucked for Greta to see that and get the wrong impression about me. I would have obviously preferred for it to be an instrumental like it had been in the past…"